Registering a lease puts it on the register of title kept by HM Land Registry. The rules are for England and Wales.
Check whether your lease must be registered
Send your tax return first
If your lease needs a Stamp Duty Land Tax return, send it before you apply to register. You must deliver the return within 14 days of the effective date of the transaction. HM Land Registry cannot register a notifiable transaction unless you give it the certificate, so a late return holds up your registration.
A grant of a lease for 7 years or more is notifiable even when no tax is due. The exception is a lease with a premium of less than £40,000 and an annual rent of less than £1,000. Once you file online, you get an SDLT5 certificate, and you send that to HM Land Registry with your application.
Register the lease
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Find out whether the landlord's title is registered
This decides which application you make. A lease granted out of a registered title is registered as a new lease. A lease granted out of an unregistered title goes in for first registration on form FR1.
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Gather the documents
You need a certified copy of the lease signed by the landlord, or the original of it for first registration, and your SDLT5 certificate. A lease granted on or after 19 June 2006 must be a prescribed clauses lease. If the landlord has a mortgage on their title, or the landlord's own lease requires their landlord's consent, include those consents.
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Make the application
Apply online through HM Land Registry and select 'New lease', or use paper form AP1 if you must apply on paper. For first registration, include enough detail to identify the land on the Ordnance Survey map and list the documents you send.
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Pay the fee
The fee is on HM Land Registry's Scale 1, based on the premium plus the highest annual rent that can be quantified in the first 5 years, or on the rent alone if there is no premium. There is no reduced fee for registering a lease online.
Change the lease later
A lease cannot be lengthened by a deed of variation, and HM Land Registry advises against using one to extend the term or add land. If you lodge one for that purpose, the Land Registry treats it as an immediate surrender of the old lease and the grant of a new one, so the new lease must meet the registration requirements in its own right. When you apply to register a variation of a lease, apply against both the tenant's and the landlord's title numbers.
Legal basis
Primary legislation and key regulations
Browse UK legislation (opens in a new tab) legislation.gov.uk